Division of Gellibrand

Gellibrand
Australian House of Representatives Division

Division of Gellibrand (green) in Victoria
Created 1949
MP Tim Watts
Party Labor
Namesake Joseph Gellibrand
Electors 102,141 (2013)
Area 102 km2 (39.4 sq mi)
Demographic Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Gellibrand is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1949 and is named after Joseph Gellibrand, a pioneer settler of the Melbourne area. It is located in the industrial inner western suburbs of Melbourne and includes Altona, Ardeer, Brooklyn, Footscray, Kingsville, Newport, Seddon, Spotswood, Sunshine, Tottenham, Williamstown, Yarraville and parts of Altona Meadows and Maidstone.

The Division has been held by the Australian Labor Party for its entire existence; it is located in Labor's traditional heartland of western Melbourne, and is characterised by a very diverse, multicultural population. Labor has never tallied less than 60 percent of the two-party vote. Its most prominent members have been Ralph Willis, a Cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating Governments, and Nicola Roxon, a Cabinet minister in the Rudd Government and the first and second Gillard Governments. Nicola Roxon was Australia's first female Attorney General in the Gillard Government.

In recent years there has been considerable gentrification in the inner-city suburbs such as Footscray, Williamstown and Yarraville, and a consequent rise in the progressive Greens vote, which rose to 37 percent in Footscray in the 2013 election. In the west, a solid patch of working-class suburbia remain strongly Labor-leaning.

For several years, Gellibrand was Labor's safest seat in the Federal Parliament. It is currently the third-safest, with a 17 percent swing required for the Liberals to win it.

The current member for Gellibrand since the 2013 election is Tim Watts, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Members

MemberPartyTerm
  Jack Mullens Labor 1949–1955
  Labor (Anti-Communist) 1955–1955
  Hector McIvor Labor 1955–1972
  Ralph Willis Labor 1972–1998
  Nicola Roxon Labor 1998–2013
  Tim Watts Labor 2013–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2013: Gellibrand
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Tim Watts 40,236 46.04 −12.90
Liberal David McConnell 23,343 26.71 +4.29
Greens Rod Swift 14,623 16.73 +1.50
Palmer United Dwayne Singleton 3,413 3.91 +3.91
Sex Party Allan Cashion 2,540 2.91 +2.91
Family First Kerry Arch 2,266 2.59 +0.21
Christians Anthony O'Neill 967 1.11 +1.11
Total formal votes 87,388 94.38 −0.29
Informal votes 5,202 5.62 +0.29
Turnout 92,590 90.65 −0.91
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Tim Watts 58,139 66.53 −7.60
Liberal David McConnell 29,249 33.47 +7.60
Labor hold Swing −7.60

References

    External links

    Coordinates: 37°50′10″S 144°50′46″E / 37.836°S 144.846°E